About Us

We retired in 2006. Since then, we spent a few years traveling on our boat, Wild Blue. From the Florida Keys to Desolation Sound in Canada, San Francisco Bay to the Erie Canal and down the Hudson River to New York City... going where the weather suits our clothes.
When traveling by land, our home is a Winnebago motorhome (before that, a NuWa HitchHiker 5th wheel, and our truck, Big Red).
A while back, I published a book about our travel adventures with Molly the Boat Cat; Cat On A Leash is available in paperback and all eBook formats.
We rescued another furry kid from the shelter; Isabella (Izzy) is a wonderful traveler. Her personality is completely different from Molly's, but she is a real delight... a little furry bundle of joy. Yes, she walks on a leash.
In 2008, we started what the Blonde calls "fun summer jobs," working on boats in interesting places. The wandering lifestyle suits us.

Saturday, December 19, 2015

Working together...

You're probably thinking: Jim and Joan sure do well together in those compact spaces: house, boat, motorhome. And, all those years working together.

And, you'd be right.

We didn't get up early this morning. We were normal people. Had our morning coffee and hot chocolate, cleaned up, then hit the road. About 360 miles to do today... certainly less than we've covered the past couple days.

We stopped at a nearby MacDonalds to grab a quick breakfast. I let Joan off at the driveway, while I found a parking spot out on the street. She was back in a couple minutes... empty-handed. She said, "Two buses pulled in ahead of us - the line is all the way back to the door. Let's just roll and I'll make some breakfast along the way."

"Works for me."

An advantage for the motorhome over the 5th wheel: you can access all your stuff as you go down the road. Stuff as in: kitchen, potty, bed, food, drink, etc, etc. Yes, I am aware that all occupants are supposed to be belted in all times. That's what we did. Really. Except for the part where we didn't. Just like everyone with a motorhome.

About that "working together" title... we came upon some road construction. The weather can be extreme here, so there is always some road construction. At one point, the road narrowed to one lane. Not sure why some people feel they don't have to merge until they are forced to, hoping they can get around a few cars before the single lane. Behind us was a semi, and that driver went down the middle of the two lanes before they merged, keeping the cars behind him from getting around. (Good for him!) A green Nissan Frontier swerved to the right, and when the truck moved to the right, the Nissan driver pulled around him (recklessly) on the shoulder on the left! I was NOT going to let her get around us... I filled the lane moving right and left. She tried to pass on the right - blocked her. She tried to pass on the left (on the shoulder) - blocked her. And then, we were into the single lane.

No doubt, she thought I was an asshole. I am certain she was. When the construction ended, I moved back into the right lane and she blasted around us, never turning her head. When the semi passed us, we gave each other a thumbs up! A small victory for stopping people who think they are more important than anyone else on the road.

The scenery changes as you move into western New Mexico - more mountains...

A sign advertising their main export...

Getting closer to Arizona, we could see snow at the tops of the mountains in the distance...

Occasional closer scenery...

And here we are in Arizona...

What is that ahead of us?

The pickup truck and trailer are loaded with what looks like antique chairs and tables; and by loaded, I mean...

Antique or just old? I guess it depends on the buyer. ;-)

Traffic was heavy as we got closer to Phoenix; from the looks of the cars, lots of people traveling for the holiday. We made it to the RV park where we will settle in for the next 5 or 6 weeks. The office was closed, but Joan had called ahead; we made reservations when we were here in October, so we knew which site we were in. Didn't take us long to get settled in...

The reason we are here: Steph and Dan. Wonderful to see them again, and a nice supper out. Got some grandkitty time in - Dan and the cats...